High school track and field: Track takes center stage

Distance running and relay races don’t fit together well in the minds of many track fans.

But distance runners may make all the difference when No. 6-ranked Warsaw tries to fight off No. 7 Carroll (Fort Wayne) at Saturday’s huge Goshen Relays.

The day-long boys track carnival will attract 40 teams to Goshen’s Foreman Field to compete in two classes based on school enrollment. Field events start at 9 a.m. and running events at 9:15.

Meanwhile, at the same time that’s going on, the best girls track meet in Indiana – the annual Penn Girls Invitational – will feature 15 teams at Freed Field.

More on that in a minute.

Warsaw’s boys can boast the best 1-2-3 distance punch in the state as long as Jacob Poyner, Ellis Coon and Robert Murphy remain healthy. They showed just how strong they are last month with a dominating sweep of the top three spots in the 3200-meter run at the Hoosier State Relays.

However, Coon is currently sidelined with a foot injury. He was unable to compete Monday when the Tigers faced Wawasee and NorthWood, and it is unknown whether he will step onto the track at Goshen.

It could make a lot of difference, since Carroll is also distance heavy. The Chargers feature a pair of standouts in seniors Jonathan Harper and Alex Hess.

Warsaw and Carroll are the only ranked teams in the 16-team Class A field. But if the Tigers and Chargers beat each other up in the long runs, it could open the door for a team strong in the sprints, such as Penn.

Kingsman junior Tim Deal is one of the state’s best hurdlers and long jumpers. Senior sprinters Thomas Grant and Conner Sowders were both part of Penn’s state champion 4 x 100 relay squad last spring.

The Kingsmen, surprisingly, are unranked at the moment, but that could change with a strong Class A performance.

Class B includes 24 teams, and has been dominated in recent years by Fairfield. But Gary West Side enters the meet this year ranked No. 10 in the state.

While boys get all the attention at Goshen, many of Indiana’s best female athletes will be competing at Penn, where competition begins at 9:45 a.m.